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the Hyphasis or that he wished to make up for his humiliation there and
restore his image of a man for whom nothing was impossible. Another
modern hypothesis is that he wished to explore the possibilities of
establishing a direct sea route between India and Mesopotamia and/or
conquer the coast of Gedrosia, even though this territory has neither
strategic nor economic value.1
The maximum number of troops in Alexander’s army as stated in the
sources is 120,000 – 135,000 men. Even if this was the case – though the
number seems exaggerated – then a large part of the army would have
comprised the Indian contingents which would have returned home at the
end of the Indian campaign. The only likely exception would have been
the Indian mahouts in the Craterus’ corps; their special skills, knowledge
and experience regarding Indian elephants made them indispensable.
Craterus’ corps also included Iranian and some of the European soldiers.
Nearchus’ fleet comprised 34 triremes, 80 triconters and some 400
transport vessels with a crew of some 12,000 sailors and 7,000-8,000
soldiers. Taking all these figures into account, scholars assume that at least
30,000 soldiers and probably a much larger number of camp followers
marched with Alexander across the desert.2 This army set out from Patala
at the end of summer (in late August or early September) 325 to take
advantage of the relative abundance of water after the monsoon season. It
should be stressed that regardless of whether he was trying to rival the
feats of the mythical Semiramis or Cyrus the Great, who had already been
dead for two centuries, Alexander did take logistics into consideration.
The stay at Patala was used to gather a four-month supply of provisions.
Moreover, wells were specially dug and food stocks were left along the
coast. At a time when land transport was limited to pack animals an army
could march for no longer than nine days before the food and fodder ran
out. For this reason a theory has been formulated according to which the
1 Str., 11.11.4, 15.1, 15.2.5; Arr., An. , 6.24.2-3 (both after Nearchus: FGrH, 133
F3a, b). Wilcken 1967, pp. 194-195, 197-198; Hamilton 1973, p. 126; Green 1974,
p. 430-431; O’Brien 1992, pp. 181-184; Bosworth 1996, pp. 180-183; Hahn 2000,
p. 231; Allen 2005, p. 154. Attempts to rationalize Alexander: Badian 1961, p. 21;
Lane Fox 1973, pp. 387-390; Scheppens 1989; Bosworth 2000, p. 34; Brosius
2003, pp. 174-175.
2 Arr., Ind. , 19.5; Plu., Alex. , 66.5. Engels 1978, pp. 111-112; Bosworth 1988, p.
142; Sick 2000, pp. 131-133.
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333
original plan was for the fleet to synchronize its progress with the land
army; the fleet was to keep the army supplied with provisions while the
army would dig wells to provide the fleet with water. If this theory
formulated by Macedonian army logistics expert D. Engels is true, bad
coordination rendered the plan useless. Above all, the fleet waited for the
start of the monsoon at the end of October and thus set sail over a month
after the land army had started marching. Moreover, the land army
marched at a distance so far from the coast that at no point were Nearchus
and Alexander close enough to communicate with one another even via
informants from among the local populations.3
Alexander’s army marched off from Patala in a south-westerly
direction to reach the river Arabius (today either the Hab or the Porali,
both of which flow into Somiani Bay to the west of Karachi) after nine
days. Next the army turned to the coast and swiftly marched across the
arid land beyond that river. When they reached the land of today’s Las
Bela, Alexander together with some elite units broke off from the rest of
the army, now left under the command of Hephaestion, and conducted a
lightning campaign against the Oreitans. This was an independent tribe
most probably belonging to the pre-Aryan population of India. The
invaders broke up into three columns commanded by Alexander, Ptolemy
and Leonnatus. Like the Arabitae just before them, after some short
resistance, the Oreitans surrendered. Alexander had their largest settlement,
Rhambaceia, converted into a city and most probably named Alexandria.
Its exact location has so far not been established with any degree of
certainty. It was around then that Alexander also appointed Apollophanes
satrap of Gedrosia, whereas Leonnatus was made commander of this new
satrapy’s garrison. After main Macedonian forces had left, the Oreitans
rebelled and killed the newly appointed satrap Apollophanes, but
Leonnatus was able to quell the rebellion. He also established contact with
Nearchus’ fleet and provided it with supplies. Next he led the men under
his command west to eventually rejoin Alexander’s forces in Carmania or
Susa. The satrapy of Gedrosia most probably did not survive its first
governor and merged with the satrapy of Arachosia.4
3 Str., 15.2.3; Arr., An. , 6.20.5-21.1, 6.23.1; Arr., Ind. , 26.1; Curt., 9.10.2. Engels 1978, pp. 112-114; contra Scheppens 1989, pp. 43-50. Seibert 1985, p. 171;
Bosworth 1988, p. 144.
4 Arr., An. , 6.21.3-22.3, 6.27.1; Arr., Ind. , 23.5; Diod., 17.104.4-105.2; Curt., 9.10.4-7, 9.10.19; Plin., Nat. , 6.97; Plu., Alex. , 66.4; St. Byz., s.v. Alex£ndreiai (4).
Eggermont 1975, pp. 89-93; Goukowsky 1981, pp. 92-100; Seibert 1985, pp. 172-
175; Bosworth 1988, pp. 142-143; Heckel 1992, pp. 102-103; Fraser 1996, pp.
164-166; Klinkott 2000, pp. 92-93.
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Chapter VII
Although Alexander must have wanted to keep to the coastline and
continue preparing wells and improvised ports for the fleet, ironically
logistic considerations forced him to take a route more to the north. This
was because cavalry patrols informed him that drinking water and food
were very hard to come by along the desert coast, whereas the primitive
peoples inhabiting this region and living off fishing had nothing worth
plundering. Unable to transport provisions for the entire 60-day journey
from the land of the Oreitans to Pura in western Gedrosia (probably
modern-day Iranshahr in south-eastern Iran), the army had no choice but
rely on plunder. Alexander presumably chose the most frequently used
route leading through the Kolwa and Kech valleys between the Makran
mountain passes running some way off but parallel to the sea. In this part
of the world which is heavily reliant on monsoon rains the harvest season
occurs in late autumn, so the Macedonian army marched there at a
relatively good time as far as food was concerned. However, this was still
not enough to feed so many soldiers and civilian followers especially
when they were heading west and ever further from the monsoon region.
The sources report a great shortage of food, provisions and water. Pack
animals died of exhaustion or were killed and eaten by the soldiers. The
lack of beasts meant that the baggage had to be abandoned, including tents
and valuables the soldiers had plundered for themselves. No doubt the sick
and weak were also abandoned on the way. Many died as result of
drinking water t
oo greedily in the rare places where it was found. There
were also cases of drowning as people were washed away in flash floods
caused by intensive downpours of rain. In such conditions the sources also
report a breakdown in discipline. Alexander ordered some grain, probably
requisitioned at Turbat Oasis, to be transported to the coast so that it could
be picked up by the fleet. However, the soldiers disobeyed their king’s
order and divided this food among themselves. In this time of extreme
hardship Alexander as usual tried to keep up morale by setting an example
through self-denial; when presented with a helmet full of precious water
he would not drink it but in front of his men ostentatious poured the much
desired liquid onto the ground so as not to benefit from something that
could not be shared with the others. Nevertheless, it must be remembered
that this information in the sources about the hardships endured are to
some extent exaggerated and ultimately originates from Nearchus’ account,
who was not actually there. From Turbat Oasis the army turned south
towards the Arabian Sea, probably somewhere in the region of today’s
port of Pasni in western Pakistan, where at least it was easy to extract
water from the wells the soldiers dug. Thence the army marched for seven
days along the coast until the guides found the right road leading north.
The Last Years
335
After another dozen or so days at the end of November or beginning of
December 325 the Macedonians reached Pura. There provisions from
Drangiana and Areia were already waiting for them, for while they were
still crossing the Makran range Alexander had sent messengers on fast
camels with instructions to the satraps of those regions.5
The sixty-day march through the Makran passes must have subjected
the Macedonians to unspeakable hardships but the losses stated by the
ancient authors should be treated with considerable caution, especially
when Plutarch claims Alexander’s army was reduced to less than a quarter
of what it had been in India. Of course Craterus’ and Nearchus’
detachments accounted for much more than a quarter of these forces, so
Plutarch or his source here clearly paid more attention to rhetoric than to
historical truth. The losses in Alexander’s corps must have been great but,
on evidence of Arrian, the casualties were largely among the civilian
followers, especially the women and children. Most of the soldiers who
had marched with him across the Makran Mountains most probably
reached Pura, though greatly weakened and without their booty.6
Now the time of celebrations began. Within seven days the Macedonians
covered the 280 km distance from Pura to the Persian royal residence at
Salmus (probably today’s Kahnuj in the Iranian province of Kerman),
riding carriages with platforms bearing special tents. They wore garlands
of ivy and, on Alexander’s instructions, the towns they passed on the way
greeted them with flowers. Everywhere they were also offered wine and
were accompanied by the sound of music. In other words, to celebrate the
crossing of the Makran Mountains Alexander had arranged a Bacchic
procession in which his entire army took part. This procession is
mentioned by neither Aristobulus nor Ptolemy, for which reason Arrian
and some modern scholars after him believe the story to be historically
untrue and a mere invention of the historian Cleitarchus, who was
allegedly a source for the works of Plutarch, Diodorus and Curtius Rufus.
However, this cannot be the case as the tale of the Macedonian
Bacchanalia in Carmania were known to the contemporary Theophrastus
and they was also mentioned in a no longer extant source used by the
5 Arr., An. , 6.23.1-27.1; Arr., Ind. , 26.1; Diod., 17.105.3-106.1; Curt., 9.10.8-18; Str., 15.2.3, 15.2.5-7; Plu., Alex. , 66.4-7; Just., 12.10. Goukowsky 1981, p. 49;
Seibert 1985, pp. 174-177; Bosworth 1988, pp. 143-145; Bosworth 1996a, pp. 166-
180; Hamilton 1999, pp. 183-185.
6 Plu., Alex. , 66.4; Arr., An. , 6.25.5. Bosworth 1988, pp. 145-146; Bosworth 2000, pp. 34-35; Hammond 1996, p. 238; Heckel 1997, p. 215.
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Chapter VII
Hellenistic historian Carystius. Therefore we can assume that the general
facts regarding the procession in Carmania are basically true.7
It was only once Alexander reached Carmania that official thanksgiving
sacrifices were made for the army’s return from India. It was also here that
artistic and sports competitions were held. Plutarch and Dicaearchus relate
an anecdote about how Alexander’s homosexual favourite Bagoas
received a prize in a music competition. Alexander, under the influence of
wine and egged on by calls from the audience was to publicly embrace and
kiss his male lover.8 It was in Salmus in December 325 or January 324 that
Nearchus and his men, having covered a distance of approximately 150
km from the shore of the Strait of Hormuz in five days, rejoined the army
of their king. Alexander had not had contact with the fleet since his army
left Patala and therefore expected the worst. That is why the arrival of
Nearchus, who informed him that the fleet had reached the Carmanian
coast virtually unscathed, came as a very pleasant surprise. As it turned out,
the fleet had had to leave Patala more or less a month earlier than planned
on account of the hostility of local inhabitants, who felt free to
demonstrate their true feelings towards the invaders once their fear of
Alexander had waned. Nearchus sailed his ships down a western
distributary and out into the ocean, but then they had to wait twenty four
days at an offshore island for the wind to change direction. Basically
sailing was only possible once the monsoon winds stopped at the start of
November 325. That same month the fleet established contact with
Leonnatus in the land of the Oreitans. There provisions for the next ten
days were taken aboard, whereas those sailors who had demonstrated a
lack of discipline were left marooned on the shore. In the next leg of the
voyage provisions were obtained from supplies left earlier near the shore
on Alexander’s instructions or seized from the native inhabitants. However,
the natives had very little food to offer regardless of how much force was
used. Most of the coast was inhabited by primitive hunter gatherers whom
Nearchus called Ichthyophagi (‘Fish-eaters’). The entire voyage generally
7 Thphr., HP, 4.4.1; Caryst., ap. Ath., 10.45; Diod., 17.106.1; Curt., 9.10.24-27;
Plu., Alex. , 67.1-6; Plin., Nat. , 16.144; Arr., An. , 6.28.2-4. Historicity of Bacchanalia denied: Tarn 1948, i, p. 109; Wilcken 1967, p. 201; Hammond 1996,
p. 236; Hamilton 1999, p. 185. Historicity accepted: Lane Fox 1973, pp. 399-400;
Green 1974, p. 438; Goukowsky 1981, pp. 47-64; Bosworth 1988, p. 147;
Worthington 2004, p. 172. Salmus: Goukowsky 1981, pp. 53-60; Seibert 1985, p.
177.
8 Dicaearch. Hist., ap. Ath., 13.80; Plu., Alex. , 67.7; Diod., 17.106.4; Arr., An. , 6.28.3; Curt., 6.5.22-23. Badian 1958; Hamilton 1999, pp. 186-187; Ogden 2009,
pp. 213-217.
The Last Years
337
abounded in exotic rather than dang
erous encounters, such as schools of
whales – creatures that the Greek sailors had never before seen. Eventually
the fleet reached the coast of Carmania, where the sailors were surprised to
spot Macedonian soldiers on the shore. From these they learned of
Alexander’s whereabouts. Nearchus ordered his men to build a fortified
camp at the mouth of the river Anamis, while he hurried to meet his king.
Alexander celebrated the safe arrival of his fleet by offering sacrifices to
the gods who saved those in need – Zeus Soter (the saviour), Apollo,
Heracles, Poseidon and other sea gods. He next instructed Nearchus to sail
his fleet to the coast of Susiana and up the river Pasitigris towards Susa.9
2. Empire in Crisis
Five years had passed since Alexander left the central provinces of his
Asian empire and almost ten since the army marched out of Macedonia. In
that time Alexander did not appoint a ‘regent’ to govern his entire vast
domain during his absence. Macedonia and the entire Balkan Peninsula
were put under the charge of Antipater. However, his authority was in
various ways undermined by Olympias, who as the king’s mother was
quite free to do as she pleased and therefore she constantly wrote letters to
her son accusing Antipater of all sorts of things. The various Asian
provinces were put under the charge of satraps, military commanders and
treasurers personally appointed by Alexander; the treasurers were also
answerable to Harpalus. Contemporary means of transport and
communication meant that all these prefects became de facto independent
rulers during their monarch’s absence. In that time way the satrapies were
governed was left to their personal strengths of character and foresight.
The conduct of some of these Macedonian and Iranian nobles suggests that
they were indeed counting on Alexander never returning from India alive.
The Macedonians, who had been raised in relative austerity though with
more than a healthy appetite for wealth and power, made full use of the
Persian treasuries and plunder at their disposal to live a life of pleasure,